Guardian has today made several enhancements to its online portal for policyholders, MyGuardian, designed to make it even easier for policyholders to understand and engage with their cover. The enhancements help Guardian policyholders stay up to date with their policy, understand exactly what they’re protected for, and improve the experience of using their added-value benefits.
Every Guardian policyholder is set up with a MyGuardian account when their policy starts. It’s the primary means of communication between Guardian and its policyholders and houses the most important ‘need to know’ policy information. On the portal, policyholders can view their policy details and documents, access added-value benefits available through Guardian Anytime, learn how to make a claim, and get more information about the support on offer from Guardian’s claims service, HALO.
Today’s enhancements further build on Guardian’s aim to promote better ongoing client engagement with protection and follow the introduction of its annual policyholder anniversary emails in 2024.
Rachael Welsh, Head of Commercial Strategy, Guardian said: “When we launched Guardian back in 2018, we did so with a fully digital client and adviser experience. Today’s enhancements make that client experience even more intuitive and seamless, and are designed to further build customer understanding, trust and engagement with their policies. Along with our anniversary emails, these changes make it easier for policyholders to review and engage with their cover, as well as see the full value of what they’re getting from their protection policy with us.”
Roy McLoughlin, Plan Money adviser and member of the Protection Distributors’ Group said: “We want clients to understand the value of their protection policies and the fact that they will be financially supported if things go wrong. As advisers we are expected to review investments and pensions annually, but we don’t have to do the same for protection. Yet we would always encourage advisers to do so, especially as clients’ circumstances change.
“Initiatives such as annual statements and improved web access and portals to keep clients up to date with the cover they have taken out for themselves and their children and who their beneficiaries are, will help advisers keep reminding clients of the important benefits protection provides.”
More detail on the enhancements:
Real-time cover details
Policyholders can now view their current live cover amount. This enhancement is particularly important for policyholders with increasing or decreasing covers. They can also see the policy term, any recent changes, and any inactive covers or covers currently in claim. Any children named under Children’s Critical Illness Protection are also easy to view.
Book GP, emotional wellbeing, and aches and pains appointments online
Through Guardian Anytime, policyholders have access to a virtual GP, emotional wellbeing consultations and aches and pains consultations. They can now book appointments online as well as by phone.
Check beneficiaries
Policyholders using Guardian’s Payout Planner to nominate beneficiaries can see who they’ve nominated to receive their life cover payout and the amounts allocated. If their policy is written in trust, that will be visible too.
View cover upgrades
Last year, Guardian introduced its most significant cover upgrade to date, along with a new cover upgrade checker tool. Policyholders can now view the conditions they’re covered for, including those added under the cover upgrade, on MyGuardian.
Provide feedback
A new feedback form allows clients to share their thoughts on their policy and the service they’ve received enabling us to continually review and improve what we provide.
Extra security with multi-factor authentication
Guardian is also rolling out multi-factor authentication (MFA) for MyGuardian to improve security and the information we hold about our customers. When policyholders log in, they’ll now be asked to enter a verification code sent to their phone along with their usual email and password, enhancing the security of the account. From today, all new Guardian policyholder accounts will be MFA-enabled, and it will be phased in for existing customers over the next 12 weeks.
